The Truth Be Told
by Melimused
Summary: Max is fuming because someone's screwed up again, but she may just be forced to eat her words. STANDALONE - Shipper free!


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A/N: Ok so here's my first ever standalone. I hope you enjoy :D Just a little rant from Mwah. Thanks to Sorrow for laughing at it and telling me to hurry up and post it ;) 

Disclaimer: Don't own nuffin'!

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The Truth Be Told

By

Enigma

She waited in the warehouse for his return, pacing from wall to wall, her face as stone cold as the boundaries she moved between. How could he have done this? Just taken off without telling her and big surprise, getting into trouble, nearly killed again! She would never understand why so many of the other soldiers held such respect for him. He was a complete screw up.

She stopped momentarily and kicked a nearby gasoline can. If she wasn't so mad, she probably would have felt the pain shoot through her foot, but instead it just lifted her anger to an all time high.

Not only had he gotten himself into trouble, but Gem was with him too. Both of them sneaking off into the night, not telling a soul where they were going. God, she wouldn't have even known what was going on if she hadn't forgotten to yell at him that day. She tried to get some shut eye, but the absence of daily Alec abuse had niggled away at her and the void needed to be filled. Boy, was it going to be filled now!

"Where is he?"

She snapped her head around at an emotionless Mole, puffing away on his cigar like it was his only source of oxygen.

"Well if I knew, do you think I'd be here watching you go back and forth like some doped up mental patient? Cause it's really _not_ on my list of things to do."

"Shut up!"

She flung her body around and began to pace once more.

"Oh, the always hurtful 'shut up' comeback. You know Max, it hasn't worked on me before, yet you just continue to use it, cause you know, maybe this time I'll feel the pain in my little toe." Mole paused for a moment, shrugging his shoulders. "If I had a little toe."

Max turned to him, crossing her arms across her chest. Her eyes shot balls of fire in Mole's direction.

"You're spending way too much time with him, you know that! I never thought anyone else could be as much of a pain in the ass as Alec, but keep working at it Mole, you'll be there soon."

Mole stood from his position, mimicking Max's composure, arms crossing in front of him.

"And you obviously haven't spent enough time with him! If you had that bug that's wedged so far up your ass would actually be loosening its grip! If you are the perfect example of what an 09er is like, or an X series for that matter, I'm glad I look like a lizard! Cause ordinary contact has done nothing for you. At all!"

Max tried to speak, her face a fiery red, but Mole stepped forward not quite finished. He pulled the cigar from his mouth and used it as a pointer, getting his anger across.

"You carry on about how bad they were at Manticore, how bad that treated us. But you're so much worse! Acting all high and mighty because you 'know how the human folk think'. They may have treated us like crap at Manticore, but at least they did it without a high pitched whine!"

Mole eyes suddenly widened as he felt the air brush passed his face, his cigar flying through the air and across the room. Max raised the hand she had swiped with, moving it into a point and shoving it against Mole's chest.

"Don't you ever! Ever! Talk to me like tha-"

"Hey! What the hell are you two carrying on again for? I'm the one with the huge ass limp here!"

Alec hobbled into the warehouse, his leg dragging slightly behind him. Gem was at his side, his arm wrapped around her shoulder for support. Blood had smeared its way down from a large gash in his hairline, hooking itself into beads and running under his chin. Gem was unharmed.

Mole pushed Max out of his way and moved towards his newly found friend, helping Gem set him down on a nearby crate. Alec winced slightly as Gem brought a hand to his head wound. She nudged him in the shoulder slightly.

"Ya big baby!

Alec pouted at her, but it vanished as soon as Max was near and opening her mouth.

"You stupid moron!"

Alec stared at her, shaking his head slightly, not at all amused.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks Max."

He looked down at Gem as she tried to inspect his leg, two large bite marks the culprits for all the blood. Gem stood up quickly and gestured that she was going to get some supplies to clean him up, all the while giving him a questioning look, not sure if he was going to need her to back him up. He gave her a quick nodded and waved his hand for her to go. He knew she wanted to check up on the little one.

"Like I care that you're fine!"

Max had her hands on her hips and her bitch face was firmly planted. Not even an ice pick could crack that baby.

Both men chose to ignore her at that moment, Mole directing his full attention to Alec.

"What the hell happened to you man? I thought it was a smash and grab job?" 

Alec chuckled slightly, gave Mole a sideward glance and slapped a hand to his shoulder.

"Yeah, me too buddy."

Max planted two hands on Mole's chest and reefed him to his feet.

"You knew about this!"

Mole snorted at her as he smacked her hands away. Max was not impressed.

"You knew about this and you didn't tell me! Just sat around being as big an ass as him!"

Her hand shot out from her side, finger pointed directly at Alec. Mole took a step forward, pushing his chest against Max.

"Yeah I did. Now what are you going to do about it?"

Max inched forward, not allowing him to have the upper hand.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't deserve to know!"

"GOD!" Alec struggled to his feet and pushed the two fighting forms apart. "Would you two get a god damn room! The sexual tension is driving me nuts!"

Alec was suddenly kissing cement, unsure of who had delivered the blow. In fact it just may have been both of them. He dragged himself off the ground and returned to his seat, his hand rubbing his throbbing jaw.

"Geeze, just trying to bring a little light heartedness into the discussion."

"Light heartedness?" Max was back in his face again. "LIGHT HEARTEDNESS?"

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to his feet.

"Get up!"

As she pushed him across the room, Alec stumbled forward, taking a moment to get his balance.

"What the hell?"

He didn't have too much time to compose himself as Max was in his face immediately, hands smacking against his chest.

"Why?! Why did you have to go out?"

Alec grabbed her hands at the next attempted shove, stopping her dead and pushing her backwards slightly. His chest rose slowly as anger began to envelope his body. He was tired of the way she treated him. One minute using him for a shoulder to cry on, next minute using him as a punching bag, then next minute just flat out using him.

"There was something that needed to be done."

His voice was low and intimidating. Max moved forward again, barely restraining herself from shoving him once more.

"Something needed to be done?" The pitch of her voice rose and Mole and Alec both winced. "And was this something so damn important that you didn't have time to tell me about it?"

"Well I don't think it was, but pretty boy here was determined to get it."

"Shut up Mole!"

Alec threw the remark at him, his anger getting the better of him. Mole huffed at him, turned and left the warehouse, never one to take shit. Alec groaned in frustration, dragging a hand through his hair (flinching as his hand moved across the gash) and turned away from Max.

"Don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you!"

Alec swung back around to her, his brow furrowed and eyes filled with both frustration and disbelief. He snorted slightly before talking, bringing a hand to his still throbbing chin.

"I'm sorry," He drew his hand away from his face and extended it into the air. "But did I miss the memo when you suddenly became my mother? Cause unless you forgot Max, we didn't have them."

He threw the last two words at her, his eyes piercing as his anger grew. Max retaliated with a similar glare, the two seeming to be getting ready for a showdown.

"I'm your commander Alec, and you will show me-"

"Oh bullshit Max! You are not my commander! The only thing you command is your own god damn pride!"

Her lips pursed together and her eyes widened as she started to suck air through her nose. A bull ready to stampede.

"How dare you speak to me like that! I don't know why I ever bothered giving you the time of day!"

Alec chuckled slightly, only infuriating her further.

"Oh and what time of day would that have been Max? The 'I need someone to unknowingly play my secret boyfriend to push the 'not-like-that' guy out of my life' time of day? How about the 'need someone to help me save another transgenic's ass, but then I'll take all the credit for it' time of day? Or the ever popular 'need to vent some frustration cause I've realised just how much I've screwed everything up' time of day?"

Her palm connected with the right side of his face, causing his skin to burn. He was taken back a moment when he realised that she had slapped him. No upper cut, no right side jab. Just a big 'ol girly slap. His comments must have hit her hard.

"I wish I'd never saved you ass on so many occasions. Wish I'd let that thing blow your head off! Better still, I wish you were one of the ones left to burn at Manticore!"

She breathed deeply, her face frozen in contempt. Alec stared at her in silence for a moment, then drew a hand behind his back, withdrawing a gun from behind him. He turned it so the handle was away from him, the barrel facing his body and offered it to Max.

"Here, take it." There was no emotion in his voice. "I said take it."

Max stepped back slightly, shaking her head.

"No."

"End it Max. End the frustration and obvious burden I cause you. You wish my death enough, so why not? Just pretend I never got out. Ignore all the things that make you hate me so much. Pull the trigger Max and it'll all go away."

"No."

She was still shaking her head at him. Alec crouched slightly and looked into her eyes, then returned the gun to his back.

"Of course, Maxie doesn't like guns does she? Well, you like to burn things, I know that much." He moved across to the gasoline can that Max had kicked earlier and picked it up. "How about you just douse me in fuel, light a match and woosh. No more memories of Alec. No more breeding partner, no more supposed inflictor of the virus, no more reminder of your nut bag "brother", no more screw up."

Max stood in silence, her face to the ground. 

"Well?" 

Alec waited for an answer, but nothing came. He dropped the gas can to the floor, the noise causing Max to jump. He hobbled towards her, until he was merely inches away.

"I didn't think so Max, because you get rid of me and you don't have someone to automatically blame! God knows who you did it to before I came along. Perhaps that's why you and Logan just aren't 'like that'." 

Alec took a deep breath because he had a lot to say and he wasn't about to stop until it was said.

"I'm tired of the way you treat me Max. Tired of being your fall guy. Yeah, I was a little shady when I first got out, but you have a quick think back and remember what it was like for you. Then remember that you got to do it ten years earlier than the rest of us. It's a lot easier to change when you're younger Max. Manticore was all I knew for twenty years. I didn't have to stick around here, but I did. God knows why at first, but then I realised that too many of us needed help."

He took another deep breath. 

"Truth be told, I'm done Max. I'm done with you blaming me for every petty little problem you have. I didn't ask to be your breeding partner, I _didn't_ infect you with the virus, I didn't make the doctor leave and I certainly didn't ask to be Ben's twin. Yeah there are things that I have done and you've helped me out, but you're not the perfect specimen either. I've helped you out of plenty of binds as well. You act like you are so hard done by, that everything that's happened has happened to you alone. I put myself out in the open too remember? I've lost the only friends I've ever known as well. It's time for you to stop and realise that you're not the sole reason for all this."

Alec inched a little closer to her.

"You may be some chosen one to fight against White and company, but you weren't chosen by us. We all chose each other. Chose to work _together_. You not our leader Max, you're just the one who decided to make it all about you! I was right there at Jam Pony and just because I didn't get some fancy markings on my skin, doesn't make me less worthy of respect!"

His voice suddenly rose with his final words. He stepped back slightly and looked at her. Her eyes still plastered to the floor, nothing to say. He shook his head and retrieved a package from his jacket.

"Here."

He pushed it into her chest, her hands grasping it before he started to walk off.

"What's this?"

Finally she spoke, turning around to watch him as he exited. He continued to walk away from her as he spoke.

"The thing that was so damn important that I couldn't tell you about!"

She looked down at the package and started to open it slowly. When she saw what was inside her breath caught in her throat. She looked to the exit and began to call his name, but he was gone. She returned her eyes to what she grasped so tightly in her hands, her mind suddenly reminded her that her body needed oxygen. Slowly she returned her breathing to normal. Her bottom lip quivered as she allowed a tear to be realised.

Alec had found her the cure.

THE END.


End file.
